


Co-Independent

by suckitaynrand



Category: Grace and Frankie
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Depression, Drug Addiction, Eating Disorders, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Health Issues, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:21:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suckitaynrand/pseuds/suckitaynrand
Summary: Grace and Frankie have hit rock bottom, will they be able to pick each other's pieces up and put each other back together?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Did some correcting and editing. I plan to update more often.

Chapter 1

Grace

 _Sold_.

Her house. _Their house_ was sold right out from under them.

And the worst part was she didn't have one single fucking idea on how to get it back.

It took one look to her best friend, the best part of herself, with tears rolling down her cheeks to know that she would get that house back.

"Grace." Frankie sobbed. She watched as Frankie tried to choke back another, but ultimately failed as she gasped and his her face with her hands.

Her heart stopped. _Why was she just sitting here doing nothing_? Frankie leaned her head on Grace's shoulder and she wrapped her arms around her willowy frame. She had never seen Frankie this vulnerable before and it frightened her. She looked so  _small._ That broke Grace's heart to the point that she could feel her own tears welling up in her eyes. 

"I'll get it back. I will. I promise." She choked out.

Grace felt the hitch in Frankie's breath as she stifled her sobs. She looked at Frankie as she slowly lifted her head up off her shoulder. She immediately felt cold, missing the soft weight. She expected,  _no, needed_ Frankie to say something. Anything. But she wouldn't even make eye contact with her. Looking anywhere but at Grace.

"I-I'm going to call someone. I'll be right back."

She slowly rose from her chair and made her way down towards the water. _It's better if Frankie didn't know who she was calling._ That's what she told herself. As soon as she took her shoes off and the cool water washed up onto her feet, she let the tears fall freely. Small sobs coming out after weeks of being pent up. _I'm so confused. How could this happen? How could I have stopped this? How could I have been so stupid?_ She picked up her phone and pressed the home button. The lock screen picture was of her grandkids. Well, more like zoomed in on her grandkids. The original picture was of Mallory, Brianna, Coyote, Bud and all off their other "clan members". Every time she looked at the photo it made her sick. Everything except the grandkids. A picture of her grandchildren was respectable, right? But her home screen, protected by her password that not even Frankie knows, was all hers. A perfect moment captured forever that she could gaze upon everyday. It was a picture of her and Frankie, sitting on the beach chairs at a family get together. Maddy had just gotten a new IPod and was eager to take a picture of everything she could get her hands on. She just happened to get a picture of Frankie smashing a s'more into Grace's mouth. Grace had her eyes closed and her part of the picture was blurry, but Frankie. She was smiling her beautiful smile and laughing her beautiful laugh and it was as if she was glowing even more than usual. She could look at it for hours on end. But right now she couldn't. _Call. Get it over with. He'll understand._ She pressed the button for Nick.

"Grace!" He exclaimed.

"Hi Nick." She said with all the mustered up courage of a mouse.

"Oh my gosh, I-I missed hearing your voice! I actually have something to tel;-"

"Nick, the kids sold the house." She tried hard to keep her voice from cracking.

Silence.

"Fra-Frankie and I left Walden Villas. The kids tricked us… I-I don't know how to explain it without sounding crazy I-"

"Grace, I believe you."

"Yo-You do?" She gasped.

"Sweetheart, we need to talk. Can we meet tomorrow for lunch?"

"I would like that."

She made arrangements and hung up. _This is a good starting point. It'll be ok._ She still had no idea what to do about Frankie. _What would she tell her? That things will work out? I just called Nick and he will probably make everything okay but I don't know how that will affect our relationship?_ No, they needed to take baby steps. She walked back up to Frankie, whose face was red and still had tears running down it. She was nervously braiding her hair, but when she saw Grace she quickly undid it and sniffed and wiped her eyes. She stood up and walked over to Grace.

"Did you um… get anything?" She asked quietly.

"I'm working on it. What stuff do you have on you? I have my wallet and my phone."

"I um… I have an old debit card, let's see… not expired. I'll check the balance."

"That's ok. We're going to the store."

"Wait Grace… why are we going to the store."

"To get the bare necessities, because we are staying at a hotel. Because our kids are little shits who tried to trick us. Keep up, Frances. And I still have my debit card, which most likely still has a sizable balance on it anyways."

She meant to make the mood lighter with her joke, but it just seem to make Frankie more sad. She turned away and Grace heard her sniffle.

"Oh, no Frankie I didn't mean-"

"Oh, yes you did. Sorry for asking." She said, not even turning towards the offending party.

Grace took time to look at Frankie in this moment. To really look at her. She looked exhausted. She knew that there had to be dark circles under her eyes, and her frown lines were more visible. Grace suspected she looked the same. She reached out to grab Frankie's hand, but she had already grabbed her phone to call an Uber. Grace fidgeted nervously until she was finished.

"They'll be here in 8 minutes," She said quietly, "Sit down… your knee."

Instead of defending herself, she just sat down, deciding there was no need to upset Frankie anymore.

***

"Grace… for Frig's sake get up! Our driver is here."

Grace woke with a start. _How the hell did I fall asleep?_ She looked for Frankie, but she was already walking up the steps to the road. She struggled t get out of the chair and walk up the stairs, but she finally settled in her seat besides Frankie.

"Where to ladies?" The driver said.

"The nearest clothing store that isn't ran by twenty year olds." Grace grumbled.

She reached for Frankie's hand, something that happened a lot these days. When the gesture wasn't returned, she realized Frankie had her head leaned against the window, and her breathing was slow. She had fallen asleep. She grasped on her hand anyway, and ran her thumb back and forth over the smooth, warm skin. It was comforting, she realized. Just to be connected.

They reached Macy's soon enough, she gently nudged Frankie awake and she groggily climbed out of the car.

"Meet me back here in half an hour. Bare necessities. I plan to get some of our clothes from Walden Villas tomorrow." Grace said, lacking any form of firmness in her voice.

She waited for a reply, none came. Frankie was already halfway down the aisle. Grace sighed and moved to her section. She grabbed anything that she saw that she might need. After checking out, she walked outside and looked for Frankie. One she found her, she hurried to the car, put the stuff in the seat beside them, and gave directions to the driver on where to go. Once they reached to hotel, she put all the things on a luggage cart and checked in. Once they were up to their room, she took the bed closest to the bathroom, and started organizing all of her things. After she and Frankie put everything away, Frankie started mindlessly flipping through channels.

"I'll go back tomorrow. I'm going to break the lease. Step 3." She said.

"Oh… so there's an instruction manual to this situation." Frankie mumbled.

She would've chuckled. But she was too tired.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Grace

She fell asleep quite soon after that without eating. Even though Frankie continuosly asked her what she wanted, she decided to take a shower instead. The events from earlier tired her out quickly along with the hot shower. She didn’t know how long she had been asleep until she heard a door open and the shower head sputter to life. She laid back down on her pillow, and pulled the covers back over herself. The steady sound of the water hitting the bottom of the tub was enough to coax her into a light sleep. But above all that she heard sniffing. The sniffing quickly turned into stifled sobs. Grace quickly sprung out of bed and ran into the bathroom.

“Frankie! What happened are you okay!?” She panicked.

Her question was answered with a small wail that shattered her heart into two.

“I’m-I’m so sorry Grace, I-I’m so sorry.” She sobbed.

“Frankie, what are you talking about?”

“I-I just-” Frankie’s voice rose in pitch.

“You don’t have to tell me right now, Frankie. Just… just feel the hot water, let it relax you. You’ll feel better. When you’re finished, I’ll be right on the other end of this door and we can talk, I promise. Okay?”

“Okay… Okay. Yes, I’ll do that.” She sniffed.

Grace slowly walked out of the bathroom, but Frankie’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Finish it off… please?” She said in a voice so small that Grace wasn’t actually sure it was her or just a voice in her head reminding her of their normal tradition.

She slowly turned around just as Frankie pulled back the edge of the shower curtain. Her blue eyes were mixed with tears and water from the shower. Her long hair spilled over her shoulder and dripped water onto the floor. Grace cupped her face in her hands and brought Frankie's head to her shoulder. Frankie shuddered and relaxed against her. Grace gently pulled her back and looked into her defeated eyes.

“Frances, I _promise_.”

Grace pressed her lips to the other woman’s forehead. She pulled Frankie to her shoulder once more and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. _Just one more. For insurance._ She pulled back and kissed just underneath her eye, right on her cheekbone. Frankie's hand came up and grasped at Grace's. She squeezed Frankie’s hand and walked away.  
“Take your time, Frankie.”

She shut the bathroom door behind her and sat on her bed. Her heart felt heavy. She had seen Frankie upset before, but never that much. _What was she sorry for? What could she have done that was so bad?_

She was lost in thought when she heard the bathroom door open. Frankie came out wearing one of the hotel’s fluffy white robes and shut the door behind her. Her damp curls now pulled into a loose braid that was laid over her shoulder. She leaned against the door with her eyes closed. Grace got up and wrapped her arms around her best friend. Frankie buried her head in her neck and let out a soft whimper. Grace could feel tears in her own eyes and her heart break even more.

“Sit down with me.” She whispered into Frankie’s ear.

Grace led her to the bed and pulled her in beside her. She curled her fingers over her shoulder and rubbed there gently. The other woman melted into her touch.

“Talk to me.” She said quietly.

“I feel so guilty.” Frankie choked out.

“What do you have to be guilty for?”

“This… This situation. I feel responsible, I-” Grace cut her off by whirling Frankie around to face her head on.

“Frankie. Oh, Frankie. If I ever hear you say that this is your fault again I will fucking lose my shit. It’s _MY_ fault I didn’t get my knees taken care of right away,” She pointed frantically at her own chest and her other hand was clenched firmly on Frankie’s shoulder. “It’s _MY fucking fault_ I hired those bastards who stole our pipes. Hell, we might say it’s the kids’ fault for Walden Villas, but it’s _MY_ fault I believed the kids’ shit in the first place! Everything that has happened here is _MY_ fault!” Her voice increased in volume, and so did the tears now dripping onto her shirt.

Frankie’s lip trembled. “I feel like I should have been better at handling it. I should have continued giving you shit about your knees until you finally went to the doctor earlier. I should have not believed the kids either. And most of all, I shouldn’t have been irresponsible at the post office and with Faith.”

“No, Frankie. I take full responsibility for this. _None_ of this is your fault. Okay, well losing the key to your mailbox might be your fault but you are did everything you could to get “alive” again. The incident with Faith was just one of those freaky, once in a lifetime things that just happens. I know you, better than I know myself and I know that you would never let anything happen to that little girl.”  
Grace clutched firmly to Frankie’s hands and looked her straight in the eye. “I’m sorry that I didn’t handle these things like I should’ve and that I got us here in the first place. I am so, _so so sorry_. I will do everything I can to get things back to the way they were. I will not let you down on this Frankie. _I promise_.”

Grace once more leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead and lingered, savoring Frankie's warmth. Frankie sniffed and chuckled and pulled Grace into a hug. They stayed like that for what felt like forever. If only we could never leave this spot Grace thought, remembering her plans for tomorrow. Frankie yawned against her shoulder. Grace pulled the covers back and motioned for Frankie to get in. She turned off the TV and the lights. She pulled herself into Frankie and wrapped her arm around her, burying her face into her hair. _It’s usually the other way around._ Grace thought. _I'm usually the little spoon._ But tonight she felt like Frankie needed protecting. Grace wanted to make sure nothing would stomp on her delicate heart. Frankie’s breathing evened out, and hers did the same.

“Goodnight Frankie, sweet dreams.” She whispered.

Although it was dark, Grace saw the smile that illuminated Frankie’s face as she turned her head sleepily towards Grace and murmured,

“Goodnight, my sweet Grace… my sweet girl.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Grace

_Beep… Beep...Beep_

Grace blindly reached for her phone and only succeeded in knocking it off the table. She groaned and glanced over at Frankie, praying she would stay asleep. She only stirred. She grabbed her phone and turned the alarm off. 6 am. 38 notifications. Grace opened up her phone to be greeted by a barrage of text messages from Bud, Coyote, her girls, and surprisingly...well, not surprisingly, Sol. She put her phone down and somehow in the dark, unfamiliar room, managed to make it to the bathroom without running into anything.

She had two hours before the offices at Walden Villas opened up. That meant two hours to put on makeup, use what’s left on her debit card (their children convinced them to pay off their credit cards and get rid of them for good. “less hassle” as they described it) to buy an overpriced outfit to impress and convince the employees at Walden Villas that she was not senile. After she finally went to a Nordstrom and finished putting on her makeup, she looked at herself in the mirror to critique. She quickly looked away. _No time to scrutinize._ She told herself. She checked her watch. She have 15 minutes. She scrawled out a note to Frankie and left it on the bathroom door.

_I’ll be back._   
_Watch Ray Donovan._   
_We may or may not have a long talk about Liev Schreiber when I get back._

_Grace_

She practically ran out the door and hailed a taxi.

“Walden Villas, please.” She said.

“Ah, who are you going to visit today?” The driver asked.

“An old friend of mine.” She replied, staring out the window.

20 minutes later, she was walking through the door to the office and to the reception desk.

“Hello. What can we do to help you today, ma’am?” The cheeky receptionist said.

“I’m here to see whoever is in charge of the lease.”

“Alright, that would be Mr. Hall. And what is your name and the reason of your visit today?”

“Ms. Grace Hanson and I’m here to break my lease.” Grace said nonchalantly.  
The lady slowly typed in her computer. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally looked up at Grace.

“He’ll call you into his office in a few minutes.”

Grace walked over to a chair and before she could even sit down, a man who was in his early thirties walked over and shook her hand.

“Ms. Hanson? I’m Todd Hall, please follow me.”

She sat in the chair in front of his desk and looked at at least 9 pictures of what she could assume were his kids.

“It’s a lot, all 9 of them!” He said.

“Very nice. So about the reason I’m here…”

She told him the story about their kids. She told them about how they were irresponsible. After some negotiating, they settled on an agreement. She would pay this month’s rent and then the lease would be broken. She walked over to her and Frankie’s apartment and grabbed what they would need for the time being. Right as she was walking out the door, she noticed the banner and the cake. She grabbed the letter that would definitely make Frankie feel better.

***

An hour later, she was parked in the parking lot of a very nice winery, one of the finest she had ever been to. She took a deep breath and checked her makeup, and then walked into the building.

He spotted her right away and stood up as she approached, his mouth widening in a grin. He wrapped his arms around her in an embrace.

“I missed you more than you know.” He whispered into her ear.

She smiled. “I’m glad you remembered me.” She chuckled.

“Sit down please. I’d love to catch up.” He said as he pulled her chair out for her.

They talked and talked. She even found herself laughing a few times. _That was new. When was the last time I actually laughed?_  He told her about how he went to Botswana to help orphaned children. He also told her about his recent charity donation to the local animal shelter _. It’s nice to catch up. Let this last a little while longer._  She kept telling herself. She politely listened to all of his comings and goings and she didn’t even realize he was staring at her until she looked up.

“I’m so sorry, Nick. I-”

“It’s okay Grace. I know you’re going through a rough time. Enough about me. Tell me what’s going on?” He reached out and grabbed her hand, gently tracing over every errant vein with care. She could feel her walls crumbling.

She told him everything. The contractor, Walden Villas, the house being sold, the stay at the hotel. It was hard enough to get through those topics without losing the battle to emotion. But when the topic of Frankie came up, she knew she was a goner before her name even came out of her mouth.

“And… and Frankie. She’s not herself. She blames the whole thing on herself and oh Nick, she just cried and cried. It hurt so much to see her hurting. Especially since it was my fault and she felt responsible. I've never seen anyone so upset before!” She whispered. Her bottom lip trembled as a tear escaped.

Nick tapped her hand gently and called the waiter over and told him to put the drinks on his tab. He stood up and grabbed Grace’s hand and they walked outside the winery to the back area. There were no people there, just a small pond and tables that looked like they hadn’t been in use for awhile. Grace gave Nick a teary smile. He pulled her into an embrace. She lost all control and sobbed quietly into his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Nick this is not how I wanted this to go. None of this is your responsibility and it was wrong of me to put,” she said, pulling herself out of his embrace and gesturing towards herself. “all of this mess on you.”

He weaved his arms around her waist and gently pulled her closer. He looked into her eyes and gently wiped a tear from her cheek.

“Grace, I want to be in your life. I’ve told you over and over again that I care about you and love you. I want to make sure you have the best of everything and that you never have to worry about anything. I feel things when I’m with you that I have never felt with anyone ever before. So please, let me take care of this for you. Let me love you.” 

If he was using her emotions to try to get to her heart, it was working. Grace wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed their lips together. She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer as their kiss deepened. His hands snake down her back and he squeezed her backside as he planted kisses along her jawline.

“Come back home with me?” He whispered in her ear.

Grace nodded her head and closed her eyes as he once again pulled her into an embrace.


End file.
